The efficient operation of an open cut mine is heavily dependent on the data collected from constant sampling to determine the concentration of ore in the sample. Traditionally where blast-holes are required as part of the mining process, sampling is done by taking multiple auger samples from each blast-hole cone, bagging them and tagging them with identification for subsequent analysis back at a lab. This data gives critical information regarding the yield and the distribution of ore so that appropriate processing of the ore can be determined. Many mines struggle to reach their full potential due in part to unreliable and inaccurate testing systems.
The current facilities consist of a centralised laboratory, sometimes servicing multiple mines. One of the critical issues concerning the laboratories inability to give reliable and accurate results relates to problems in collecting the samples from the blast-holes. Typically this is a manual operation involving a team of two workers. The team drives out to the particular area of the mine after the blast-hole drilling operation has completed, and then manually takes samples from the hole cone using a cumbersome and heavy hand held auger to perform the drilling operation in order to collect the sample. Multiple drillings of a blast-hole cone are required to improve accuracy, and the samples are collected in a bag and appropriately tagged with relevant location information.
There are a number or problems associated with this method of collecting samples:    1. Firstly, because it is a manual task, different teams can yield different results. One team may be diligent in acquiring samples from multiple locations on the blast-hole cone, while others may not. Manual operation restricts the sampling tool selection (due to ergonomic constraints) and can cause significant mixing as the tool penetrates a cone, thus causing the sample to be less representative.    2. Secondly, operation of the equipment is arduous and heavy back breaking work, also the samples collected are placed into a bag, and these typically weigh 10 to 12 kgs. As the team gets fatigued, the quality of their sampling may degrade and the quality of the sampling and the weight of the bag collected may also diminish. A smaller sample bag results in a less representative sample.    3. Thirdly, the time it takes to get a sample manually collected from the blast-hole cone, then subsequently processed and analysed at the lab is critical to maximizing the efficiency of the mine's operation. It is estimated that the time it takes to extract the relevant information from taking the sample to completing the analysis in the laboratory is from 10 to 30 hours. This time adversely affects production which in turn degrades the efficient operation of the mine.    4. Finally many mines operate in difficult and arduous regions of the Earth. Some mines operate in extreme heat and/or bitter cold. These environmental factors also may have a negative impact on the efficiency of the sample recovery teams working at the blast-hole.
Typically one team is expected to take samples from 65 to 75 blast-hole cones per shift and spend approximately 10 minutes at each hole and collect a 10 to 12 kg bag that is placed into a storage area on their vehicle for subsequent collection and delivery to the laboratory for further processing and analysis. Significant logistical effort is required in transporting the samples to the lab for analysis.
It is an object of the present invention to alleviate at least some of the problems aforementioned.